You killed Hossam Shabat.
Don’t say Israel.
Don’t say airstrike.
Don’t say it like it just happened.
You did this.
You with your thinkpieces.
Your coward hearts.
Your carefully worded statements
about "both sides."
You who say ceasefire
but can’t say genocide.
You who wring your hands
as if blood isn't already soaking through them.
You watched 170 journalists die
and you’re still quoting the New York Times
like it means something.
Like it’s not complicit.
Like you didn’t read the first headline
and close the tab.
You—
in your conference rooms
and classrooms
and coffee shops
talking about nuance
while Gaza turns to dust.
You who want peace
but not justice.
You who say
what can we do?
as if helplessness
isn’t a fucking choice.
You made this.
Every silence
was permission.
Every vote
a weapon.
Every time you said
“It’s complicated,”
you built a wall around your heart
and called it intelligence.
They killed Hossam Shabat
because he was showing us the truth.
And you—
you looked away.
You will keep looking away
until the last voice is gone
and you will sit in the quiet
you helped create
and call it peace.
I am angry because people are sitting on their arses watching Netflix while the world is being destroyed by man-children with drones and god complexes. Because they scroll past images of incinerated toddlers and then tweet about their burnout. Because they binge documentaries about past atrocities and call it awareness while present-day genocide unfolds in real time, and they can’t be bothered to open their mouths. I am angry because Gaza is being flattened and people are still sharing fucking smoothie recipes. Because journalists are being butchered for telling the truth and the West is silent—no, worse than silent—they are funding it, defending it, pretending their hands aren’t drenched in it. I am angry because war criminals are being given press conferences, and the people calling them what they are are being silenced, shadowbanned, arrested, fired. I am angry because the so-called adults in the room are cowards. Because they value decorum over decency, neutrality over justice, and "stability" over human life. I am angry because the world is full of people who would rather keep their heads down than risk being uncomfortable. Because they will let entire cities be erased before they’ll lose followers. Because they still call this complicated. It is not complicated. It is cowardice. It is racism. It is white supremacy with better branding.
This poem is staggeringly good and important. The whole post. Thanks Rebecca
I don’t know which is more heartbreaking: the things happening or the way they are dealt with. These extreme atrocities highlight the gap between simply seeing and knowing, and unfortunately enhances this feeling of sadness that the geopolitical violence some of us have been through will never truly be appreciate by the other.